Thomas Hart Benton was born on April 15, 1889 in Neosho, Missouri. His father was a Missouri congressman and his namesake great-uncle had been Senator Thomas Hart Benton. Senator Benton was one of the original supporters of the concept of Manifest Destiny, or the right of American settlers to expand as far west as possible.
Chicago, Paris and New York
Despite his political heritage, Benton inherited a love of art from his mother and from an early age wanted to pursue a career as an artist. Benton’s father was less than thrilled over his son’s vocational choice and tried to change the boy’s focus by sending him to a military academy. Benton’s passion remained, however, and in 1907 he headed for Chicago’s School of the Art Institute.
Benton pursued further studies at the Académie Julian in Paris, taking up the traditional bohemian art student’s lifestyle—until his mother found out about the bohemian part and forced him to come back to Neosho. He left for New York soon after, then served in the U.S. Navy during World War I. Following the war, New York again became Benton’s home base as he began to make an artistic name for himself, particularly through his mural work. He also married a young Italian-born woman named Rita Piacenza, who would be not only Benton’s wife and mother to his two children, but also his muse, business manager and tireless supporter.
Benton, Curry, Wood and Regionalism
Somewhat short in stature yet strong-bodied and strong-willed, Benton had little tolerance for modernism in art. Initially, Benton had appreciated the sense of energy and color of the Cubists and Synchromists, but his stance changed upon returning to the United States. He additionally took issue with New York and Paris being the art scene’s gravitational centers of power and, along with artists Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, promoted the concept of Regionalism.
Regionalism applied a kind of naturalistic epic quality to everyday American life, particularly the Midwestern heartland; it was a deliberate dismissal of abstract trends and a further distancing from then-contemporary European artistic influences. Benton of course had a prominent Missouri background, while Grant Wood hailed from Iowa and John Steuart Curry had been born and raised in Kansas. The three made enough of an impact to be featured in a December 1934 issue of Time magazine, with a self-portrait of Benton on the cover as Regionalism assumed national significance.
Benton, Curry and Wood all eventually encountered controversy, however, in their choice of subject matter. Curry’s Kansas murals were criticized by Kansans for depicting the fanaticism of the abolitionist John Brown, and Wood’s works like American Gothic troubled some Midwesterners for portraying them as seemingly dour and dull.
In Benton’s case, public upset came from his inclusion of such elements as Indiana Klansmen and lynch mobs in his murals, along with the figure of corrupt Kansas City political kingpin Tom Pendergast, whose influence greatly aided Harry S. Truman’s early career.
Jackson Pollock and Persephone
Beyond his artwork, Benton taught at New York’s Art Students’ League and at the Kansas City Art Institute, following Benton’s return to Missouri in 1935. One of Benton’s New York students was future abstract icon Jackson Pollock, and despite the very different direction in style that Pollock would ultimately take, Benton and Pollock got along quite well.
Fond of provocative statements, Benton angered the museum and gallery world with a scathing commentary about the effeminate nature of men who promoted and curated art. Further friction with the Kansas City Art Institute occurred over Benton's circa 1938 nude Persephone. Persephone was a stunning combination of mythology and lush burlesque fantasies, and before making its way to a permanent home at Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum, the painting hung in show biz mogul Billy Rose’s New York nightclub.
Benton's Later Years and Legacy
Following World War II, abstract, minimal and Pop Art movements exiled Regionalism to a dusty corner. Benton managed to stay within the public eye via an interview with esteemed journalist Edward R. Murrow, and through admirable commissions like the painting of murals at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri. Benton also accepted a commission from Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974. This would be Benton’s final work; he died in January of 1975, almost literally right after adding final touches to the mural and signing his name.
The end of the 20th century brought a renewed appreciation for Benton’s purposeful vision and style, and his work can be found in numerous museums. His Kansas City home and studio were granted landmark status, and in 1988 filmmaker Ken Burns turned his lens toward the artist, noting how above all, the pugnacious and determined Benton was truly “a perfect mirror of the American character.”
Sources
- Ken Burns’ Thomas Hart Benton – PBS.org
- Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original -- Henry Adams (Alfred A. Knopf, 1989)
